Project Microhouse: Or, How I Learned to Stop Shivering and Live Small

Have you ever made an inventory of all your possessions? Not just the big, expensive stuff, but everything. All your worldly possessions: socks, felt-tip pens, phone chargers, crockery, contraception – the lot. In the case of Alec Farmer, a 23 year-old Glaswegian, his list included three pairs of long johns, 93 books and two decommissioned parachutes.

In 2010, Alec built a tiny timber microhouse and lived in it, one freezing Scottish winter. His aim – to experiment with leading a more minimal lifestyle. His challenge – to fit all of his worldly possessions into two crates that fit into the 1.2m sq storage area of his temporary home. You can check out Alec’s full list here.

Alec’s microhouse was based on seminal US architect Ken Isaac’s instructions in How To Build Your Own Living Structures. You can read a copy here (or sign up to download a PDF).

‘I’m not living in the structure anymore – it was designed in the states and was not built to withstand mad weather conditions. By the time I moved out, there were 4 inches of snow on the roof. Pretty chilly!’